Introduction:

Objects we see in space are far away, but some are much farther than others. This lesson will help you learn what stars are in our "neighborhood", and what other "neighborhoods" are out there.

Activities:

• Open the Application, "Stellarium".
  • Change the location to Philadelphia, USA.
  • Try changing the menu options on the bottom and left of the screen to see how that changes the view.
• Hunt for the following:
  • The Big Dipper
  • Orion
  • Planets
  • North Star
  • Milky Way
  • Your Zodiac Sign
• ((Put in the Big Dipper Lesson here))

Conclusion:

Finding things in the universe requires an understanding of scale. If we could zoom out, like in the opening to the movie Contact , we would see that we live on a planet, orbited by a moon, orbiting the sun, with several other planets, in a cluster of stars, on the edge of a galaxy, with billions of other galaxies scattered around. || || ||

Practice:

This quiz (G1) will guide you through our universe, from the largest to the smallest structures we know.

Enrichment:

If you would like to explore this theme in more detail, the image below links to a classic video by Ray and Charles Eames, called Powers of Ten. There you will find the video, an online quiz, and more!